Replies

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/104-03042005-458646.html

"...DeFazio gave the following account of the killings: On the evening of Jan. 11, McDonald waited on the front porch of the two-story house for Sanchez to arrive. When he got there at about 7:30, McDonald knocked on the door and Garas opened it. Wearing a mask to hide his face, McDonald pushed his way into the ground-floor apartment, where he and Sanchez subdued the mother and her two girls, tying them up and covering their mouths with tape.

They remained bound that way for more than two hours until Hossam Armanious returned home between 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. from his job with the banquet department of the Westin Princeton Hotel. As he entered the house, Monica managed to loosen the rope that bound her hands, and removed the tape from her mouth.

She recognized McDonald as the upstairs tenant of about two months, and he killed her, fearing she would be able to identify him to police, DeFazio said.

"From there, tragically, the situation spiraled out of control," he said. Sanchez then killed the father, mother and older sister by stabbing each repeatedly in the head, neck and body, the prosecutor said.

McDonald, who paid $975 a month to rent the upstairs apartment from Armanious, was questioned the day the bodies were found, but was not charged. He and Sanchez discussed robbing the family well in advance, thinking they had access to a large sum of money, DeFazio said.

McDonald was on parole following a conviction for possession of more than 500 grams of cocaine with intent to distribute, Assistant Prosecutor Patrick Rivoli said in court. Sanchez was on parole for a 1995 conviction on charges of conspiring to import "significant amounts" of heroin and cocaine into the country, Rivoli said.

The arrests were welcomed by Christian and Muslim groups who said they were deeply hurt by the tension the killings - and speculation about the motive behind them - had caused.

"Everybody is relieved that there is no religious implication behind it," said Maged Riad, a spokesman for the worldwide head of the Coptic Church, Pope Shenouda. "Just for money, four lives were wasted. It's sad to think that the human race has devolved to this point."